Proclaiming the Gospel in Argentina: Week 2 (April 26, 2013 MTC)

Why hello family!

Before I begin telling about my week I will try to get some questions answered and such. First of all, thank you all SO MUCH for the wonderful letters/emails/DearElders, etc. I wish I could email everyone back and thank you personally but since I can't please know that I am so thankful for your love and support.

I can't believe that I have been here for 16 days now. Like they say here at the MTC "The days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days." That is such a true statement haha :) Mom thank you so much for all your grand advice about so many things. I will try to get those notes done and limit myself to 1 page in the journal. That might take a while to get down though ha. And thank you for that scripture as well from Mosiah. That is very wise counsel and I really appreciate it. I have actually thought about that scripture a few times while being here and I am working on following it. You and dad take such great care of me, even when I am away from home :) Thank you! I hope to someday be as great of a woman/wife/mother as you are mom. So getting up early has been hard but I really have been fine. I do want to be a diligent, hard working, faithful missionary though and so if my getting up early starts interfering with that then I will work something out. It is hard to get up but once I am up I feel great. Thank you so much for the birthday package!! I haven't received it yet obviously but I am excited to touch something that was in my own home! Ha :) And thanks for sending those few things as well, I appreciate it. I think that I will soon need some more body wash (Dove sensitive skin), and something else which I can't remember right now. But I will let you know when I for sure need more. Thank you! I have been told that I need 200 dollars cash for when I leave on the 20th of May so I need to figure out how to get that. And I WILL be reassigned for sure because the consulate or however you spell that of Argentina will not be here for another few months. I am actually kinda excited for that though because like you said mom (or whoever said it), being reassigned can really help me get into things like the language and such before i head to Argentina. And about Mother's Day, we CANNOT call home :( I was pretty sad when I heard this but it makes sense because there are sooo many missionaries here and it would just be crazy so I won't be calling unfortunately.

This last week has been tough and challenging but very rewarding and special. We now have two new investigators and their names are Israel and Sergio. Oh and I don't know if I mentioned this before but our investigators are our actual teachers just posing as investigators that they had on their missions. But even though we are teaching our "teachers" the experience is so real and I have been able to truly want to help them come unto Christ and it feels so good. I can't even imagine how it is going to be with REAL investigators! :) I just can't wait. I hate to say this but my companion and I ran into a little bit of a rough patch yesterday when planning our lesson. I could tell that she was frustrated about something and so I was harder for me to focus on planning because I was getting frustrated and so I asked if we could say a prayer. That helped us to get the rest of our lesson planned but I could still tell that she was hurt about something. On the way to lunch I asked her if she was okay and she said she was just frustrated but not because of me, just other stuff. I told her that if she wanted to talk about it and let some of it out then maybe we would become more unified and that the spirit would be with us. She then responded, "I know that's how it works but I don't want to talk to you about it!!" Oh my goodness I felt so bad that I had asked that and because she did yell at me a little bit I started getting wet eyes. I said a prayer in my heart that Heavenly Father would help me to be more sensitive with Hermana Freestone and that we would be on good terms again. Well our lesson time comes and our message was on families. I could tell that it did not seem to flow as nicely as usual but Sergio really took interest in it because he is currently separated from his family. After the lesson, Hermana Freestone took me aside and apologized for that entire day. She was so sincere and I love her so much for that. She is a humble young women and I admire her for being so. She said that she really was not frustrated with me but that it was just personal stuff and that because she was frustrated, her mind went blank during the lesson and so that's why she didn't say much. Which I thought she said quite a bit and I mentioned that to her. Anyway, it was a humbling experience for both of us and we are now on great terms again :) She is such a hard worker and a great companion. Heavenly Father helped us through that experience and we both know that we could not be learning and growing at this rate without His help and guidance and blessing.

Me and Hermana Freestone at the Provo Temple

Spanish is coming along. It is hard when I can't convey things to investigators that I want to but it is also good in a way because then I have to try and figure out a more simple way to say it with words that I know. And this is better anyway because investigators sometimes need the simple truths first in order to understand. I love my teachers so much! They are great. My district keeps me laughing and having a good time which I think is a good thing while being a missionary, just a long as the things you do do not distract the spiritual environment.

Okay so one of the highlight of this last week was the Tuesday night devotional: BYU MENS CHOIR! It was BEAUTIFUL everyone! And Erik let me tell you this, you are SO good enough to be in that choir. I was thinking about you the entire time in fact, and that it would be so cool to see you singing with them. When they started coming in I heard a girl behind me saying, "Call me maybe!" Haha, silly young woman. It was pretty funny though. But their songs were wonderful. I really believe that listening/singing good music is one of the greatest ways for the spirit to touch our hearts. At least for me anyway. It was a great night filled with joy and peace.

Each day I am here I learn many new things and most importantly I learn to rely on my Savior Jesus Christ. On Sunday Pres. Tyler spoke and his words were inspired and gave me peace. Sometimes I wonder if I really do have the spirit with me. He reminded us that in the sacrament prayers, it says if we always remember Him, keep His commandments, and take His name upon us, that we will ALWAYS have His spirit with us. I have heard those prayed countless times of course and yet when he said this it touched me and gave me peace. As long as I am doing those things, I will have His spirit to help guide me in all I do. That is a great comfort to me.

I miss home but it is worth it and will just continue to get better. I love you all so much and I know that Heavenly Father is answering our payers. The love of Christ is everywhere although it may be difficult to find it. Because Christ loves everyone, there is something to love in EVERYONE. I firmly believe that. Here at the MTC I can see and feel Christ's love everyday and it bring me hope. Thank you all for everything. Love you!!

Love,

Hermana Katelyn Syphus